The government of the northwest Indian state of Punjab is set to establish five primary processing centres for the proposed mega food park being set up by Punjab Agro Industries.
Punjab Agro Industries will set up a food park on 100 acres at Ladhowal, Ludhiana, at a cost of INR140 crore, The Times of India reported.
Ladhowal park will have up to 40 food processing units involved in frozen fruits and vegetables, frozen french fries, milk, maize, bakery products, wheat pasta, tomato, chillies, snack foods, eggs, malt, honey and turmeric.
The food processing units in the park are expected to create more than 1,800 direct jobs and over 28,000 indirect jobs.
According to an official spokesperson, five collection centres will be established at Muskabad village (Samrala), Saholi (Nabha), Kangmai (Hoshiarpur), Lalgarh (Samana) and Babri village (Gurdaspur).
In addition, the government is planning to identify five more such centres to develop world-class fruits and vegetables clusters, added the news publication.
Recently, the Indian government awarded 17 mega food parks to state government bodies and private sector units. These parks are expected to draw investments of INR6,000 crore, including INR850 crore grants from the central government.
These initiatives are expected to generate a turnover of INR8,000 crore annually and provide jobs to 80,000 people and benefit five lakh farmers, The Hindu said.